SEACAMS2 and sustainability

SEACAMS2 is partnering with Bangor University’s Sustainability Lab to ensure that our team and all our partners are able to demonstrate that we are giving meaningful consideration to the well-being of current and future generations in all we do.

One Sustainable Development Principle

The one Sustainable Development Principle is our overarching guide:

We must act in a manner which seeks to ensure that the needs of the present are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

When designing a project we need to consider the possible impact of our decision making on the people living their lives in Wales currently, and in the future.

Four Pillars

While our main motivator for bringing University academics, students and businesses together to the grand challenges is to boost the economy, we recognise that the economy is interdependent with the environment, society and culture. If we want our development initiatives to be sustainable in the long term, it is important that we consider how to improve all four aspects equally.

Five Ways of Working

To achieve this we will be adopting five ways of working, to help us work together better, avoid repeating past mistakes and tackle some of the challenges we are facing:

Long term thinking: We must balance short and long term solutions, meeting the needs of the present whilst safeguarding the needs of the future

Prevention is better than cure: We must consider whether our proposed actions will prevent problems occurring or getting worse – or will they make things better

Integration: We must consider how our objectives impact on each of the well-being goals and on the objectives of others

Collaboration: Our project team must seek to act in collaboration with anyone (internal/external) that could help us meet our well-being objectives

Involvement: It’s extremely important to involve as many relevant people (stakeholders) as possible to help us meet our collective well-being objectives, and to reflect the diversity within the area served

Seven Well-Being Goals

Last but not least we aim to demonstrate that our activities contribute to the following seven well-being goals:

This is a new way of working for us and during the life of SEACAMS2 we plan to engage in an active learning process to improve our understanding of what sustainability and well-being really means to us and our partners. We are enthusiastic about partnering with others who share the same vision and who are on a similar journey.

This way of working has gained global recognition. This is what Nikhil Seth, UN Director of Sustainable Development, says about the Welsh Government’s approach:

The Wales Future Generations Act captures the spirit and essence of two decades of United Nations work in the area of sustainable development and serves as a model for other regions and countries… We hope that what Wales is doing today the world will do tomorrow. Action, more than words, is the hope for our current and future generations.”

SEACAMS2 is an ERDF funded project and this way of working is the way we have chosen to make a positive contribution to the Horizontal Principles (previously known as the Cross-Cutting Themes).

Contact Gwen Holland if you would like more information or if you would like to join Bangor University’s Sustainability and Well-being network. For full information regarding The Sustainability Lab at Bangor University please visit our website.